Mennell lands breakthrough win on British Historic Rally season opener

In just his 10th rally at this level, Yorkshireman Dan Mennell joined the elite ranks of drivers to score British Historic Rally Championship victories after triumphing on the Riponian Stages.

Partnered by John Roberts in his Ford Escort Mk2, Mennell stormed to victory on Sunday’s Riponian Stages Rally in his local forests to bag a result that he has threatened to score for the past 12 months.

As one of the major coming men in historic rallying, Mennell had to push hard as overnight rain left the classic Yorkshire forests very slippery and difficult.

But he barely put a wheel wrong and finished the event 20 seconds clear of another rising star of historic rallying, David Crossen.

Northern Irishman Crossen was partnered by Ben Teggart as countrymen Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill completed the all-Escort Mk2 overall podium.

“That’s absolutely magical,” said Mennell at the finish. “I used to watch all these guys when I was a lad and think: ‘I’d love to do that one day’. And here we are. It’s like a dream come true.”

It was Crossen who set the pace on the opening stage in Gale Rigg with Mennell just two seconds adrift but, after 11 high-speed miles in Cropton, Mennell was five seconds to the good and steadily built his lead to finish the rally with a 20s advantage.

“That’s a good result for us,” said Crossen, who was still gaining experience of both the championship and the Yorkshire stages.

Meanwhile, there was a mighty fightback from Hetherington, who lost around 20s on the opening stage with a rear puncture.

But Hetherington was really into his stride over the second loop and set two fastest stage times. Critically, he was 6s up on everyone through the final Boltby test, and that was enough to move him ahead of David Henderson and Chris Lees for third.

Former racer Henderson struggled through the morning stages with a clutch problem and went into the last stage badly short on rear tyres so fourth was still a good result.

Another rising Yorkshireman, Matthew Stroud – with Josh Carr alongside him in an Escort – rounded out the top five with an impressive performance Escort.

Making it a very good day for Yorkshire, Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis were a fabulous seventh overall in their 1600cc Escort Mk1. Milner had rolled out of his previous two rallies and both driver and co-driver were just pleased to see the finish for the first time in two-and-a-half years.

Others fared less well with mechanical issues claiming Matthew Robinson, Ben Friend (Escorts) and George Lepley – who was expected to set the pace in his Mitsubishi Galant VR4. However, engine woes on the opening stage ended his rally shortly after it started.